


influence

by ironicpotential, TaFuilLiom



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-24 07:32:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14950320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ironicpotential/pseuds/ironicpotential, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaFuilLiom/pseuds/TaFuilLiom
Summary: Five times Alex asked for something under the influence, and one time Maggie did.





	influence

**Author's Note:**

> An experiment in which I wrote all the dialogue, and @ironicpotential wrote the rest!
> 
> tw:// One bit in particular is rather graphic and bloody, so be aware. And please enjoy :)

**_i) scotch_ **

Maggie was sure that she would never get tired of this sight: Alex Danvers completely relaxed, sprawled comfortably across their couch, the light from the television dancing across her face. 

She dropped her keys in the bowl by the door and walked around the side of the couch to join her fiancée, who was slowly sipping scotch from a tumbler. 

“Hey,” Alex said, patting the space next to her on the couch. 

Maggie kicked her boots off and sat down, arm across the back of the couch, allowing Alex to curl up against her. “Hey. What are you watching?”

“ _ Blue Belt _ .” Alex snorted, taking another sip of scotch. “I can’t believe you’ve gotten me into this.”

Maggie took the tumbler from Alex and pressed a kiss to the side of her head. “For a show about cops, it’s actually pretty accurate.” 

They sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the show and enjoying each others’ company. Maggie revelled in the intimacy that she had built with the amazing woman that was not only her fiancée, but her partner and best friend. She considered herself especially fortunate to be the only one - save for Kara - who got to see Alex Danvers with all of her walls down. 

She traced lazy circles on Alex’s shoulder and tilted the tumbler absentmindedly, letting the whiskey stones clack together as they slid around. “I like this episode.”

“So do I.” Alex turned her head slightly to watch Maggie. “It got me thinking.”

“It did, huh?” Maggie smirked. “About the sex scene in the beginning? Cause I’m not six feet tall, or a man, but I think with an addition or two and a bit of effort I could try my best.”

“No…” She bit her lip, pensive. “Well, yes, but not  _ only _ that.” 

“I mean, I bet I could even improve upon the on screen depiction.”

“Oh really…? That’s quite a statement, Detective Sawyer.”

“I do try, Agent Danvers.” She ran her fingers down Alex’s side, delighting in the shiver it produced. “You gonna share what else you were thinking?”

Alex fidgeted for a beat or two. “It’s just when Detective Henderson got married his uniform...” An audible gulp. “He was pretty handsome.”

“Uh huh…” Maggie had a pretty good idea of where this was going. 

“Was just wondering if you would ever consider doing the same?” Alex tried to sound casual, but the interest in her voice was clear.

“I’ve never really thought about that before.” (A complete lie. She’d had many thoughts about what she could do to Agent Danvers with her handcuffs after they said “I do.”)

“Would you, if I asked you to?”

“I think…” Maggie turned to face Alex. She wanted Alex to see that she was all in. “Yeah, I think I would. If it would make you happy.”

Alex softened. “I love you.” 

“I love you, too.” 

They kissed, quick but full of promise.

Alex pulled back and hummed contentedly. “As hot as you’d be, I think we should leave our jobs completely out of the wedding, just for the day.” 

Maggie snickered. “So, you won’t be walking down the aisle wearing a thigh holster?”

“Shh, you.” Alex swatted at her side and turned back to the television. “The commercials are over.”

  
  


**_ii) tequila_ **

Agent Davidson threw a rainbow sash over Alex’s shoulder. “I hope you’re prepared to suspend the sexual harassment policy.”

Alex looked down at the sash, which read “ **_Bride_ ** ” in white block letters. She didn’t try to hide her smile, despite their teasing. 

“Yeah, we wanna know how close to the knuckle we can get.” Agent Harper slung an arm around her shoulders, leading her away from the bar and towards a table of five other DEO agents. 

Alex waved her hands about casually as she was pushed down into a chair. “I assure you, everything will be fine, everything’s on the table.”

Agent Vasquez snorted, distributing shot glasses. “Once the tequila starts flowing, sure.”

J’onn sat at the bar, listening in. He hadn’t expected the invitation to Alex’s bachelorette party, but the little group of LGBTQ+ agents that had formed and welcomed Alex to their ranks had insisted that her  _ Space Dad _ be present.

He had agreed, mostly because he was thrilled to see his second-in-command socializing with the other agents outside of work. He remembered when she first started at the DEO; so serious, so eager to rise through the ranks, to prove her worth. And she had always been so private, but at times, she had radiated throbs and pangs of loneliness. He never meant to read her mind but her thoughts were so loud. 

After she had met Detective Sawyer, her thoughts got even louder, more jumbled up. And then one day… 

He smiled and shook his head, watching her blush as the agents played some kind of drinking game.

“No, I have  _ not _ done... _ that _ to Maggie.” Her voice carried through the bar. 

Harper raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Has she done it do you?”

Alex stuttered in response, turning quite the shade of red. “I-I mean, it...well-”

Agent Connell grabbed Alex’s shot glass and filled it, sliding it back threateningly. “You know the rules, Danvers. Pass a question, take a shot.”

Alex squirmed, and then tipped the shot glass back, coughing a bit as the liquor burned down her throat. J’onn smirked before blocking out the images Alex projected as she stumbled up to join him at the bar.

She flopped down onto a stool and groaned. “There are tons of deadly poisons on Earth, J’onn. Hundreds and hundreds in the universe.” She sluggishly smoothed a hand over her face, propping an elbow on the bar and giving him a lazy smile. “But tequila? It’s the worst.”

He laughed. “I assume you’re having fun with being put under the spotlight by your subordinates for a change.”

Alex just shrugged. “They’re all so...fun. I didn’t even know there were so many-” She glanced back, and then wrung her rainbow sash. “-of  _ us _ at the DEO…”

Again, he chuckled. “You seem to be drinking more and answering less as the night progresses.”

Alex grimaced. “Oh, you, uh h-heard...some of that?”

“Only what you  _ did  _ choose to answer.” J’onn couldn’t help but tease her. He’d never had the chance to see his own daughters grow up and get married, so he was happy that his Earth daughter would get that chance. “Although I will say, if some of your answers are suggesting that you are engaging in salacious activities during your work hours, I will consider revoking Maggie’s access to the DEO.”

“Oh god, no.” She covered her face with one hand again, waving up at the bar with the other. “More tequila.”

Amused, he remarked, “I must say, I’ve never tried this particular drink.” 

Alex motioned for two shots, watching as they were poured. “You’re in for a treat.” 

She slid one across the sticky surface of the bar and he carefully lifted it. They tapped the glasses together and took their shots. 

Alex grinned broadly as the agents called her back, motioning that she’d join them momentarily. “God, more of this stupid game.” She turned back to J’onn. “Can I ask you a favor?”

“Of course.”

Alex patted him on the shoulder. Then, with a moment of hesitation, she rushed through what she was going to ask, “Please don’t read my mind on my wedding day.” 

Later, in a different bar with music and dancing, after Maggie and some of her fellow NCPD officers joined their DEO counterparts, J’onn watched as the two brides-to-be stumbled and giggled and danced together. He noted how happy Alex was as an amused Maggie tugged on the rainbow sash. She whispered something in Maggie’s ear and Maggie blushed, suddenly speechless, before her eyes darkened with intent. He shook his head fondly, wondering if that ‘stupid game’ they were playing at the table had more of an effect than she let on.

  
  


**_iii) morphine_ **

“Oh my God, Alex.”

Kara hadn’t even seen it happen. 

She’d learned all about Dexitoras from her mother on Krypton when she was little. They were imposing, insect-like creatures with hard chitinous plates and retractable claws - the stuff of nightmares for a young Kryptonian. 

She’d shared this knowledge with the DEO agents she’d called for backup of course. She could handle one Dexitoras alone, but their brute strength made two a struggle, even for Supergirl. 

Still, everything had been going fine. She’d brought down the first Dexitoras with the additional firepower and was wrestling the second when she heard it. A sickening, squishing sound and an agonizing cry that sounded too,  _ too _ familiar. 

She’d whipped around to find a third Dexitoras, one she had missed. The alien towered over an agent as they crumpled to their knees, and then collapsed back onto the ground, a pool of blood slowly seeping from some kind of wound in their abdomen. 

The Dexitoras stumbled away - stunned by fire from a DEO-issued rocket launcher - and Kara got a look at the downed agent. 

_ Alex. _

She covered her mouth and tried not to scream. 

Kara was by her side in a flash, kneeling in blood,  _ Alex’s blood _ , her brain helpfully reminded her. Alex breathed in stunted pants as she inched up, looking down. She let out a whimpering cry of shock at the sight of her abdomen, and Kara pressed on her shoulder, encouraging her to lay back down. 

“Alex,” Kara said urgently, as Alex’s chest began to rise and fall in panic. She could see the wild whites of Alex’s eyes. “Alex, please, just-.”

The wound was grizzly - worse than anything she’d ever seen - and she’d seen more than her fair share of injuries during her superheroing. And  _ oh god _ she remembered learning human anatomy in high school but she’d never seen an intestine just. Out there.  _ Evisceration _ . 

_ Oh god why did Alex insist on watching so much Grey’s Anatomy on sister nights? _

Barely clinging to control, she radioed in to J’onn that she would be returning immediately, voice shaking. The DEO could handle it from there. She carefully wrapped Alex in her cape and took off into the sky. 

When she arrived back at headquarters, the entire medical team was waiting to transfer Alex to a gurney. She ran alongside it, bloody cape clutched to her chest, down the long corridors to the emergency medical unit. 

“K-ara-” Alex looked over to her, wild-eyed and panting, morphine already flowing through her veins to numb the pain, courtesy of Dr. Hamilton. “Kara, please, tell Maggie t-tell her-”

“Alex, it’s okay, if-” Kara tried to choke back tears. She had never seen her normally strong, confident sister so fragile. “You’re going to hurt yourself worse if you keep struggling.”

“No p-please-” She tightens her hold on Kara’s arm with all of her available strength. “Tell her I-I’m preparing her place.”

Kara’s gaze darted down to where Alex clutched her sleeve, staining the blue with her own blood. She was delirious. She must have been. What information was she supposed to glean from that?

“What-”

“Please, tell her, I’m preparing her-her p-place-” Alex was desperate now. Begging. “ _ Please _ Kara.”

All Kara could do was nod as Alex was wheeled through the double doors and one of the DEO medics held her back. 

She just stood, staring at the doors for what felt like a lifetime until she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“How is she?”

Maggie. J’onn must have called her. She remembered Alex’s nervousness the day she added her fiancée as her emergency contact. 

“She’s in surgery, I don’t-I don’t know,” she managed weakly. 

Maggie pulled her into a tight hug, clearly trying to hold back her own tears. Kara could hear her heartbeat in her chest; a rabbit’s heart hidden under the strength of a lioness. She wondered if Maggie had been told how bad it was. 

How close Alex might be to...

Kara stepped back, shuddering. She wasn’t a doctor, but she didn’t need x-ray vision to see that there was a chance Alex might not come back from this. Her sister’s frantic request to her was enough. 

“She uh,” Kara fumbled with her words. “She told me to tell you she was, um, preparing a place for you?”

Maggie’s lip trembled in disbelief. Her hand flew to her mouth and she walked down the hall a few paces, needing to move but having nowhere to go. Caged, she swung around, and stared at the floor. “Jesus, Danvers.” 

“What does it mean?”

“There’s this uh…” Maggie’s voice broke as she raised her head, staring up at the ceiling. “God it’s so stupid.” She took a shaky breath to steady herself, pressing a closed fist into the palm of her other hand. “I took a poetry course in college, good way to meet girls and some of the gay lib group went so…” 

(She was rambling and normally Kara would smile at how Maggie had picked up her sister’s nervous habit, but now it cut Kara to the core.) 

“ _...  _ fuck, anyway, there’s this poet who has a book that I sometimes read to Alex. I can recite some of their works.”

“Oh?”

“One of them has a line-” Maggie’s jaw tightened, regaining her composure. “It talks about death, the afterlife, the…” 

Kara remained silent, letting Maggie breathe. “It says  _ ‘If I should die before my soulmate, then I shall go on, over the line, and before I prepare my own, I shall prepare a place for them’. _ ”

“Oh, Alex.” Kara’s heart was in her throat. 

She watched as Maggie opened and closed her fists, her fingers trembling. “I uh- I’m gonna get some air.”

“Okay.” 

Kara watched her go, headed towards the bathrooms around the corner. She knew she shouldn’t listen in, that Maggie wanted some time alone, but she couldn’t help it. Maggie’s quiet sobs echoed in her ears helping to drown out the sounds from the operating room - a symphony of electronic beeps and scraping surgical tools. Kara leaned up against the wall - too anxious to sit in one of the uncomfortable chairs down the corridor - and tried to focus on anything else. 

Maggie returned a while later, perfectly composed, the only indication of her emotional outburst being red-rimmed eyes. Wordlessly, she reached for Kara’s hand and squeezed and they stood there, side-by-side, waiting for news. 

It was an agonizing three hours before Dr. Hamilton emerged from the emergency unit, scrub cap in hand, a relieved look on her face, and told them they could see Alex. 

Kara let Maggie enter first. It was a difficult adjustment at the beginning, accepting that she was no longer Alex’s only priority, but seeing the two of them together like that? Seeing Alex’s exhausted face light up as Maggie entered her hospital room? That lessened the sting of jealousy. She might have been Alex’s sister, but Maggie was Alex’s  _ everything _ .

“Hey…” Alex’s voice was scratchy, but Kara had never been more relieved to hear any other sound in her life.

Maggie beamed, tears of relief threatening to fall. “Hey.” 

Kara stepped forward, placing a comforting hand on Alex’s arm, needing to feel her - solid and  _ alive _ . “I told her.”

“About...oh.” Alex’s eyes flashed with a thousand emotions - uncertainty, anxiety, hope.

“You asked me to.” Kara shrugged, kissing Alex’s forehead, and then leaving the pair in peace. 

 

  
**_iv) pain medication_ **

“I can’t believe my sweet, sweet girl is getting married.” 

They sat outside on the deck of the Danvers’ family home in Midvale. Eliza swirled the last of her red wine around in a wine glass. Alex had begrudgingly opted for water, still recovering and somewhat heavily medicated from her brush with death a week before.

Alex had called her that morning, asking if she could come by. Maggie had been called in to work and she didn’t want to be alone. Eliza’s heart had warmed at that - they’d come so far recently. Kara had flown Alex to Midvale and the three of them had enjoyed a quiet brunch, none of them mentioning how close they had come to never sharing one again. 

Then, when Kara had been called away to deal with  _ Supergirl _ business, Alex had finally revealed the extent of her injury to her mother. Detached and dancing around strict medical terminology, Alex had described it as if she were briefing her mother about someone else’s trauma. And like a doctor, Eliza nodded along and made her own clinical assessment. 

(As she cleared the dishes from brunch, Eliza caught the glimmer of relief and gratitude in Alex’s eyes that she hadn’t made a whole fuss about the fact her daughter almost died).  

It was a clear night, not a cloud in the sky, and soft blues melodies wafted through an open window from a neighboring house. The stars twinkled above and Eliza looked up fondly, memories of standing with a young Alex at their telescope running through her head. As she had grown up, Alex had become distant, closed-off, but seeing her now… After rising up in the ranks at the DEO and blossoming in love, Eliza couldn’t be more proud.

And she couldn’t be more thankful for the woman that had helped her daughter glow. 

She just wished she could have seen it sooner.

Alex turned toward her mother, eyes a little glassy. “You’ve got something you want to ask?” 

Eliza suppressed a smile. Even sinking into a lull as her medication kicked in, Alex was sharp in her observations. “I didn’t always have suspicions, you know, about your...sexuality.” She sipped her wine, and then, “It was small moments, here and there. But when you spoke about Maggie…”

Alex’s lips curled up, head lolling back against the deck chair. “She’s the love of my life.” 

Eliza watched as Alex’s entire demeanor softened at the thought of the detective, her fingertips gently rubbing against her stomach where her bandage was.

“I think she is.” She placed a hand over Alex’s, carefully stilling it, needing to reassure her that she had her full support. “That Thanksgiving, I knew it. Seeing how skittish you were with Kara, how much you’d drank, I knew there was something that...terrified you.”

“It was big.” Alex sighed, glossy eyes looking out towards the ocean, the slight breeze rustling her hair. “It was...scary.”

“I felt awful, afterwards. I know we haven’t always had the easiest relationship, but I love you. You’re my daughter. The thought that you were  _ scared _ to tell me...”

“Well, I just…” Alex ran a hand through her hair, letting it fall back against her cheeks. “Everything was going to change. The more people I told, the more real it was. Especially if I was telling you.”

“What happened to Maggie was awful.” Her heart ached for her daughter’s fiancée. She’d made sure to take her aside after learning about her childhood to reassure her that she considered her a daughter too. 

“God, yeah.” Alex seemed a million miles away, but solemn at the turn in conversation. “I mean, from you I-this is a terrible thing to say.”

“No, please. Tell me.”

Alex didn’t look her in the eye, just continued to stare off into the distance. “I could have taken it, if you’d taken my coming out badly. I had Kara, I had Maggie once we became friends again. I had support, I was an adult, I could have taken it.”

Eliza waited as Alex continued, speech slurring ever so slightly. “But she was 14, Mom. At 14, I could never have held it together with what she went through. What countless others go through. I was...I was lucky.”

“You were strong, Alex. You always were.” 

“Because I still had a home. I still had love. When everything with Kara, and Dad, and anything that happened in high school…” Her voice cracked. “I had a place to get through the pain of loss. But Maggie was…” 

Alex finally looked back at her mother, her face pained, eyes unfocused. 

“It’s okay sweetie.” She tucked Alex’s hair behind her ear gently. “I would never have done that to you, even if that’s how you’d been outed. And even if I did, I would have had to go through your father, who most certainly would have thrown his wife out before his child.”

Alex smiled sadly. They rarely talked about Jeremiah. Especially after he had been found and then lost again. It was too painful. 

“You know I just…” Alex slid her hands over the arms of the chair, sighing as once again, her attention seemed to swim away from the deck. Eliza smiled patiently, knowing that soon, she would have to help her drowsy daughter hobble inside. 

But then, a spark of coherence came back to her eyes, “I’ve just thought of something.”

“Yes?” 

“I need to ask you a favour.” Alex fumbled for her water, taking a long draw and wiping the droplets from her chin. Then she turned as much as she could to face her mother. “You...please, just hear me out?”

“Anything.” 

And it was true. Eliza would do anything for her daughter. The fact that Alex felt she couldn’t ask was only a reflection on herself. 

“On the morning of the wedding, will you…” Alex faltered. “Will you be with Maggie?”

That was not what Eliza had expected at all. “What?”

“I just…not the entire time just-” Alex pleaded. “I have J’onn, I have Kara. Maggie doesn’t have any family. Friends, sure. But...please just be her mom, for a day? Tell her how beautiful she is, give her a hug if she gets nervous, fix her flowers if the bouquet gets crooked.” 

“Oh, sweetheart…”

Eliza felt tears prick at her eyes. Despite everything, despite the loss and the sorrow and the disappointment she lived through, her daughter had grown into such a selfless woman. And she was so incredibly proud.

“She won’t have that. She won’t have someone there to...play the parent.” The edge of Alex’s mouth quirked up in a hopeful smile. “Please?” 

“Of course.” Eliza gathered Alex in her arms, holding her tightly, mindful of the still-healing wound. “I’d be glad to.”

“Thank you,” Alex whispered, melting into the embrace, that drowsiness settling into her bones again. 

Eliza smiled knowingly, rubbing her back. “I’m glad that you’ve found happiness.”

“I did, Mom.” Alex mumbled into her shoulder. “I really did.”

  
  


**_v) champagne_ **

Lena sighed, gazing over the wreckage that was the foyer of L-Corp headquarters. 

She loved National City - she really did - and had no regrets moving L-Corp headquarters, but after the third Supergirl-related disaster in the building in a six month period, no insurance company would cover her. Apparently just having the surname Luthor was enough of a pre-existing condition. 

At the very least, the hero herself was usually available for cleanup duty afterwards, once her friends in all black carted whatever monster-of-the-week back to their black ops facility that Lena is supposed to pretend she doesn’t know exists. 

Supergirl landed softly next to her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Lena.” 

Lena shook her head distractedly, mind already whirring with ideas for new products she could invent to cover the cost of rebuilding, “Honestly, this isn’t even a surprise. I don’t even know why I bothered spending anything on catering when it’s all been wasted.”

Except she did know why. It was all about keeping up appearances. Being transparent. If she locked herself away in her labs to focus on her true passion - engineering - it’s a sure thing that that every reporter in National City would be knocking down her door, trying to uncover an evil scheme. 

So instead she charmed. She schmoozed. She threw lavish benefits and banquets. She invited the rich and the powerful to L-Corp so they could see the good that she was trying to do. 

“We could take the food down to the local homeless shelter, if you aren’t gonna do anything else with it?” Maggie called over, making her way through the rubble towards her, followed closely, as always by Alex. 

Lena smiled at the detective. She’d stopped being surprised at their presence at every Supergirl-related crime scene long ago. Once she’d met Kara’s sister at her apartment and had then seen the agent fighting by Supergirl’s side, it was easy to put two and two together. It didn’t take a genius. And really, she liked the couple. 

“Absolutely, that’s a wonderful idea.” She gave the detective and her fiancée a quick hug as thanks. “Oh, but before you go.”

She led them over towards where the bar was still standing - a miracle, truly - and gestured at a large pallet of expensive champagne. “Please, take these for the wedding. I can keep them chilled in an industrial freezer at work until the big day.”

“Lena-” Maggie started to protest.

“As a token of my appreciation.”

Alex’s forehead crinkled. “That’s so kind, really, but it’s too much.”  

Lena waved off their concern. “Consider it my wedding gift.”

She watched as Alex picked up a bottle reverently, fingers tracing the label. 

“God, this...is the good stuff.” Alex murmured, mostly to herself. 

Maggie’s eyebrows shot up as she caught a look at the brand. “We can’t- We can’t accept this-”

Lena placed a hand on each of their arms. “Please, how many times have you two been there to help me out now? I owe you too many favours.” She took the bottle from Alex gently. “As a taster, how about we crack one open in the office once you come back?”

The two women looked at each other, some unspoken conversation happening before Lena’s eyes, and she couldn’t help but crack a smile. As tough as both women appeared to be, they were so gentle with each other and that gave Lena so much hope for her own future. 

“Babe,” Maggie said quietly, brushing Alex’s forearm. “Are you okay to drink?”

Alex nibbled her lower lip and nodded, palm coming up to rest over her abdomen. “I haven’t taken anything tonight, so I think so.”

Lena raised her eyebrows. She knew Alex had gone through some trauma at work after she had found Kara in her CatCo office with red-rimmed eyes. All the reporter would disclose was that Alex had been badly hurt during a case, and how silly she felt that she was still so upset a week after the incident. But the fact that Alex was still taking pain medication almost two months later gave Lena an indication of the severity of what had happened.

They bid Lena a quick goodbye, promising to return shortly to finish with the cleanup, before loading all of the food into crates to take to local shelters with help from Supergirl, who had just returned from clearing away the rest of the debris.

About an hour later found the three women sprawled about in Lena’s office, any awkwardness at hanging out together for the first time eased with the first glass of champagne. She had expected she might feel a bit like a third wheel in the company of the newly engaged couple, but that didn’t seem to be the case. She watched Alex move about her office, running her fingers over Lena’s various degrees and listened to Maggie humming along to the record spinning on her father’s Crosley turntable in the corner. She felt comfortable with these two women and she wondered vaguely if perhaps this is what having sisters feels like. 

“Oh, you read  _ Today for Tomorrow? _ ” Alex called over from Lena’s desk, where she was holding up the latest copy of the science journal.

Lena instantly perked up. “Of course. Although I must say, the paper on reprogrammed induced pluripotent stem cells was rather lacklustre.”

Alex paced around the floor, waving the arm not holding her champagne glass around. “Oh my God, absolutely! I mean, not under researched by any means, but the writing style was so…”

“Unengaging?” 

“Yes!” Alex snapped her fingers in Lena’s direction.

“I thought the same thing.” Lena nodded resolutely, happy to have found a kindred spirit.

Alex took a sip from her glass and bit her lip thoughtfully. “You know, while I was reading it, I just kept thinking, why didn’t they do it by using 3D printing?”

“That’s brilliant. And that could work, if someone was willing to provide the facilities and funding…” Lena trailed off.

Alex opened her mouth to say something, but was stopped by a pointed look from Maggie. She bit the inside of her cheek thoughtfully. “Well, unfortunately I have neither of those-”

“You could use L-Corp,” Lena supplied, bemused at the attempt by the detective to stifle the accidental admission of that which she was already aware.

“What, really?” Alex turned towards Maggie, somewhat startled at the suggestion.

Maggie shrugged, draining the rest of her glass and chuckling. “I don’t know why you’re looking at me, babe. I have no idea what you guys are talking about.”

Alex whipped her head back to Lena. “Could I- I mean, would it be possible?”

Lena grinned. “Absolutely. We can get a plan drawn up whenever you have time.”

Maggie rolled her eyes. “Perhaps leave it til  _ after _ the wedding.”

They all chuckled and Lena basked in the warmth of friendship and camaraderie. 

Yes. National City was a great move.

 

~

 

**_i) beer_ **

Maggie had been the one to suggest meeting at the bar on Tuesdays after work. Tuesday nights belonged to the Danvers Sisters and Maggie had explained that this often left her wasting away at home in Alex’s too-large apartment. 

If it had come from anyone else, he’d think it were a pity invite. But he and Maggie had an understanding. They both orbited the core of the Superfriends, providing balance to the group, but remaining on the periphery. 

It hadn’t always been that way. He had made Kara’s suit after all.  He was an important part of the team. But lately Kara and James had slowly gravitated towards Lena Luthor and away from him, and really, he couldn’t blame them for being so enamoured of the tech billionaire. Why hang out with Winn in his crappy apartment with his crappier board games when you could enjoy the amenities of her penthouse?

Kara hadn’t even noticed that he had been spending more and more time at the DEO, especially once Alex was back on desk duty, her attention was focused elsewhere.  

But Maggie Sawyer had.

She was too perceptive for her own good, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

They never went to the alien bar, instead carving out their own place for themselves at an old dive bar downtown that had greasy food and even greasier countertops. Old rock music flowed freely out of the vintage jukebox in the corner - Creedence Clearwater Revival and Kansas - music that Maggie once admitted reminded her of driving with her father in his police cruiser through golden cornfields on warm summer days. 

They sat across from one another, in their dingy corner booth, half empty beer glasses creating rings of condensation on the chipped wood table.

His eyes were glazed with a mixture of the bar lights, the alcohol and the sheer glee of being with someone who understood what it was like to be the only good one of your name. 

Maggie fidgeted with her hands, twisting the band on her ring finger contemplatively. “Alex asked J’onn to walk her down the aisle.”

Winn’s eyebrows shot up over the rim of his glass. “Shit. Good for her. And him. Good for them.” He wiped the beer that escaped his glass off of his chin with his sleeve.

Maggie nodded, draining the rest of her beer before motioning to the bartender for another round. “It got me thinking.”

“Oh yeah?”

“I mean, I love J’onn and all, but I imagine his father of the bride speech might be a little dry.”

Winn chuckled at that. J’onn J’onzz was a sentimental guy at heart, but his public speaking strengths lay with combat instructions and motivation. “Oh, yes. That’s to be avoided. Swerved around.”

The bartender set two more beers down on the table and Maggie took a healthy swig.

“And my dad is out of the question.”

He squirmed. They’d had that discussion. It had required something a little stronger than beer and had ended with Maggie softly crying into Winn’s shoulder. And although she’d threatened bodily harm if he ever brought it up again, they’d left the bar that particular night more family than friends. “...So?”

“ _ So _ , I was thinking…” She knitted her eyebrows together, biting the inside of her cheek. “How would you feel about giving one?”

“Huh?” 

Did he hear that right? He’d prepared a few stories about his favorite couple to tell if anyone needed any material, but he never expected to be asked to give a toast himself.

“Sure, you aren’t a father, nevermind either of ours. But you could give that speech. All the embarrassing stories, sentiments about the future, whatever.” She waved a hand lazily. 

The request had sobered him somewhat, and he stared at her with wide, childlike eyes. “You really want me to give a speech at your wedding? You’re sure?”

“I bet Alex is gonna have your speech vetted but…” She played with a beermat. 

Maggie always tried to play things off like they weren’t a big deal, but Winn knew better. This meant a lot to her. And it meant that maybe these Tuesday nights also meant as much to her as they did to him.

So there was no hesitation in his voice when he made his decision, a huge grin stretching slowly over his face. 

“Sure, why not?”

**Author's Note:**

> Come find us and have a chat: @santonaranja / @ironicpotential


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